


In Another Life

by Stratagem



Series: The X-men Aren't Gone (X-men/The Gifted AU) [2]
Category: The Gifted - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Single Parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-01-18 13:05:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12388653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stratagem/pseuds/Stratagem
Summary: John is raising a daughter on his own, working at Xavier's, and balancing "superhero" duties when Clarice moves into his apartment building. He's curious about her. On her end, Clarice isn't sure what to make of John and his daughter. It's better to not get close to people, but it's also nice to be wanted. Single Parent AU.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own The Gifted, but I have always loved anything X-men related.
> 
> A/N: I have lots of Thunderblink muse, but I can't write a bazillion little fics since the next episode hasn't come out yet. Soooo, have an AU! I'm borrowing my little OC Riley for this fic, and she's John's adopted daughter. Also, Xavier's is a thing!

John woke up before his alarm clock, like usual, and rolled out of bed, bare feet hitting the hardwood floor. He could hear Riley still sleeping in her room down the hall, her little whistling breaths faint and even, and the automatic coffee pot was already bubbling to life. That thing was on its last leg, and if it busted, he would have to somehow convince Forge to fix it or get a new one.

Forcing himself to his feet, John ran his hands through his messy hair. He needed a shower, but he had to get Riley moving first. She always took forever in the morning, which would make him late for work and her late for school.

Padding down the hallway, John pushed Riley's door open and stepped over the minefield of stuffed animals. Seriously, the kid's collection of plush animals seemed to get bigger every week. He suspected Lorna of sneaking new toys to Riley. Or maybe one of the other kids in the building had a duplication power…there was that new family that had moved in a couple weeks ago.

Bending down, John shook Riley by the shoulder. "Hey, squirt, time to get up."

Her bright pink and black wings twitched and then spread, coming up to cover her head. "Nuh…"

"Yes," he said, pulling the blankets back, "You gotta get ready for school."

Riley sat up and folded her wings over herself entirely, hiding behind them. "I'm asleep. Shh."

John smirked and picked her up by the waist, tucking her under his arm like a football. He was careful with her, watching out as they squeezed past the doorframe. All the while, Riley made exaggerated snoring noises, like she could possibly sleep through this. Once they were in the living room, John tossed the five-year-old onto the couch and turned on the news. "You have ten minutes to wake up."

Riley popped up, clinging to the back of the couch. "But I'm very asleep!"

"Ten minutes."

"Ugh!" She flung herself back onto the cushions, and the blanket that was slung over the back of the couch slid down, tug by tug.

With Riley on her way to actually waking up, John headed back to his room and quickly showered and got dressed. He and Riley were supposed to be at Xavier's in about an hour, and it would take at least thirty minutes to drive there. His towel around his neck, John headed back into the kitchen and turned on the stove before heading over to the couch. Riley was curled up in a little ball, her wings curled around her. Those wings were a lot less delicate than they looked; he should know, he had been walloped enough with them. Leaning over the back of the couch, he tickled her neck, getting her to twitch and wriggle.

"Dad!" she yelped, rooting into the cushions.

"I said ten minutes, and time's up," he said, bobbing her against the cushions with both hands, "So wake up. I'm making pancakes."

That got her to sit up, batting away at his hands. "Blueberry?"

"Is that what you want?"

"Yep, yuh-huh." She pushed her wild pink and black striped hair out of her face. Her skin was light violet, like lilacs. Lorna always said Riley looked like she had stepped out a kids' fairy tale book, a pixie come to life, and John guessed that was about right. She was like a small bit of magic, one that he had sworn to raise and protect when he had adopted her five years ago.

"Then I'm making cucumber pancakes." John gave her hair a gentle tug and pointed to a hairbrush on the coffee table. "Start working on that rat's nest you call hair, squirt."

"Not cucumber," Riley said, wrinkling her nose. She grabbed the brush and scrambled up to sit on the back of the couch, using her wings to balance as she perched up there. Brushing her hair, she watched him grab the pancake mix out of the cabinet.

"No? How about fish pancakes?" He picked up a bowl from the drying rack and dumped pancake mix into it. "Or peanut butter pancakes."

"No, blueberry."

"Oh, okay, I hear you, grass pancakes—"

Riley made a whining sound and dropped back onto the couch, disappearing from view. John could hear her grumbling to herself about how much she wanted blueberry pancakes and wondering if they were out of blueberries and how grass would make 'icky yucky pancakes.' Over by the stove, he tried not to laugh. So dramatic. "Go get your school clothes on and we'll see what kind of pancakes we end up with."

She commando-crawled out from behind the couch and spread out, stomach-down, on the hardwood floor. "Can I wear my Moana dress?"

"No, you can wear a long-sleeve and jeans plus some socks, it's cold." He swished the pancake batter around one final time and started pouring it into the pan he had set on the stovetop. "You can pick whatever you want as long as it's one of each. And two socks."

"Socks gotta match?"

"Go wild."

Riley jumped up and took off down the hall, and he could hear her going through her closet and drawers while he finished the blueberry pancakes. Stacking them on a plate, he grabbed his tablet and settled down at the table. "Riles! C'mon, move it, these ketchup pancakes are getting cold."

She wandered back in, clutching a handful of socks and wearing a grey t-shirt and blue jeans. "I can't decide."

"Bring them here," he said, holding out a hand. Riley darted over and climbed up in the seat beside his before putting her socks on the table. She sniffed at her pancakes and then smiled at him. "Blueberry!"

"No way, they're ketchup."

"Are not."

John pointed a fork at her plate. "Go on and eat. And you should wear the pink cat and that pony one."

"The pony sock is Applejack, Daddy."

John shrugged and popped half a pancake into his mouth. "Orange country horse sock, then."

Riley ate daintily, and John side-eyed her when he caught her picking the blueberries out of the pancakes. She grinned and went back to eating the whole pancake. John made a face at his tablet and the emails he was reading. Two of his students were freaking out over the upcoming mid-semester exam and a third was trying to weasel out of it entirely. As a teacher who specialized in coaching young mutants to use their powers, John had a number of students with a variety of powers and a wide range of personalities to match.

"There's someone moving in."

"Hey, stop spying," John said, glancing up from his tablet. Riley was up from the table, which he had noticed while reading emails, but now she perched in the window seat. "Come back and finish your pancakes before I eat them for you."

"You won't," Riley said with complete certainty. She pressed her hands to the window, sticky syrup fingers getting goo all over the glass. Her wings spread a little. "It's somebody new. The lady moving in."

"Well, people who are just moving in are normally new." John finished off his pancakes and headed over to see what, or really who, Riley was looking at. He leaned over her, one hand against the window frame.

There was a moving truck out front, and a woman helping the movers. Her hair glinted purple in the autumn sun, and her eyes as she looked up at them were a bright, impossible, striking green, like jade. That's when John realized that she had caught them watching her, and great, wasn't this awkward.

Luckily, five-year-olds are good at fixing that sort of thing. Riley waved at the woman and her wings fluttered. The woman blinked and then waved back hesitantly, like she couldn't decide if she should or not. John gave a similar wave before ruffling Riley's hair and turning away from the window so he didn't make the impression of being Mr. Creeper on the Fifth Floor.

Riley tapped her fingers against the glass. "She's pretty."

John flicked his eyes at his daughter, who was eager for him to get married. She didn't look up at him, but she hummed to herself. "Ri, no."

"I just said she's pretty!"

"Go eat your pancakes…" While Riley rolled her eyes and headed back to the table, John stole a second glance out the window. Okay. Fine.

She _was_ pretty.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is an AU where mutants aren't hunted or anything, but there is still a lot of prejudice against them from some people. It's more like the normal X-men universe.

"Are you serious?"

Clarice glared at the movers as they closed up the back of their truck. Most of her stuff was still out on the sidewalk in front of the building, including her couch, the mattress for her bed, an armchair… And now the movers were saying that they were done.

One of the movers frowned back at her as he locked up the truck. "You paid for a certain number of hours. Those hours are up."

"Hey, no." Clarice moved toward him. "That's not what your boss said. He said it was a flat rate for the move and that you would help me put everything in the apartment." She flung a hand at all of her things scattered around the sidewalk. "Surprisingly, this isn't my apartment."

"You must've heard wrong."

"I didn't," Clarice sidestepped him and held up her hands, blocking his path as he headed for the driver's side door. "I'm good to pay for those hours, if that's what you're worried about."

"Lady, we have another house to go to," the mover said, eyeing her hands warily. His gaze flicked to hers and then quickly away, focusing instead on the moving truck.

Oh. So that's how it was. Clarice silently fumed, not moving an inch. "I didn't hear wrong and you don't have another job, do you?"

"Get out of the way," the mover said, scowling back at her.

"No! I paid for you to help me move."

"Or what, you'll zap me?" the mover said. He took a step back and then surged past her, bumping against her shoulder and pushing her out of the way.

"I don't have zapping powers, asshole!" Clarice snapped as the movers slammed the truck doors and sped off. She was sorely tempted to portal their truck right back to her, but she let them go. They were done and putting them in a loop would just piss them off more. Besides, getting in a fight with the movers in front of her new neighbors probably wasn't a good way to make a first impression. Even if the movers did deserve it.

Clarice flopped down onto the couch and tossed her legs over one of the plushy arms as she crossed her arms over her chest. She closed her eyes, letting herself think. Getting the stuff up to her apartment wouldn't be that hard, not if she had a little help. She could create portals, after all. But right now she was pissed off.

She should've guessed that the movers would bail on her. They had been skittish around her since they met her, and they hadn't been very enthusiastic or careful with her stuff. Not that she had much. She was just out of college and still getting up on her feet.

"Can we put our couch outside, too?"

Clarice's eyes flew open to see a little girl standing by her couch, looking up hopefully at the hot guy who was holding her hand in his. The girl was tiny, striking and eye-catching with light purple skin and pink streaked hair that was pulled back in an intricate braid. The guy raised his eyebrows at the kid meaningfully and then looked over at Clarice. Yep. Yep, he was definitely extremely attractive. Longish hair, sharp features, warm brown eyes…

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I just thought I'd air out my furniture before taking it upstairs," Clarice said, crossing her legs at the ankle, feigning nonchalance. "Admire the building. Take a break."

"All right…" He looked like he didn't believe her for a second.

The girl slipped away from the guy and darted among Clarice's boxes. With an unnatural grace, she skipped up onto Clarice's armchair before unfurling bright pink and black butterfly-esque wings. They caught the air and suddenly the girl was on top of Clarice's favorite bookshelf, sitting on the edge. "You've got a lot of boxes."

"Not that many," Clarice said, though it did look like she had more now that they were scattered all over the place.

"Riley, get down," the guy said, shaking his head at the girl. She grinned down at him and pulled her legs up onto the shelf-top. "Riley…"

"Want some help moving in?" the kid, Riley asked, peeking over the edge at Clarice. "My dad's really strong."

Oh, she bet he was, she could see the muscle definition under his long-sleeve. Not that she was looking too close. Then again, she had also noticed he didn't have a wedding ring… But maybe he just didn't wear it?

"No, it's okay," Clarice said, "I've got this." Mhmm, somehow she would hold open a portal and move stuff at the same time. Uh-huh, because that was totally going to work. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"That's where we're heading," the guy said as he stepped over to the bookshelf. He gave the girl a pointed look and she jumped down into his arms, giggling. Holding her in one arm, he turned to Clarice. "But she's right, we can help get all of this up to your apartment. I'm John Proudstar, by the way, and this is Riley." He held out his free hand Clarice and she stood up before taking his hand hesitantly.

"Clarice Fong," she said, "And thanks, but really, it's fine. I don't want to make you guys late."

"We won't be that late," John said, setting Riley on the ground again. She bent down and picked up a leaf, toying with it as he fetched his cell out of his pocket. "Let me see if anyone's still here who can lend a hand."

"You really don't have to do that," Clarice said, "I don't want to bother anyone."

"It's not bothering anyone," John replied, his fingers darting over the screen. "If they can, they will, and if they can't, then they won't." He put the phone back into his pocket. "See, not bothering anyone."

"We help each other," Riley said, still playing with the leaf, twisting it in her fingers. "We're good at it."

Clarice looked around at her boxes and furniture and then at John and his cute kid. "As long as you're sure it's not a problem."

"I'm definitely sure," John said. He put his hands on his hips and glanced around at the boxes. "Where should we start?"

"Actually, if you just want to grab something, I've got a way to make this a lot easier."

When he picked up the armchair with one arm, she tried not to stare. All right, then. Riley wasn't lying when she said he was strong. Clarice picked up a box and Riley grabbed one of the pillows.

"Lead the way," John said, giving her a small smile and acting like the armchair weighed as much as the pillow Riley was carrying.

Clarice was heading for the door when something caught her eye and she turned back to her stuff. It was one of her lamps, the metal one, drifting slowly upward. There a green-haired woman leaning over a balcony, one hand outstretched toward Clarice's lamp while she used the other to eat a bagel.

"I've got this," the woman called, "Which apartment?"

"Uh…5E…"

"That's right across from us!" Riley said, bouncing on her toes and hugging Clarice's pillow.

Clarice smiled at the excited kid. "Imagine that."

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really glad people are enjoying this! Also, Clarice is a little more advanced at using her portals than she in the show since she didn't have to hide them!

"So. Portals?"

"Yep," Clarice said, "Portals. I think it'll be the best way to get everything up here from the yard, and it should save us a lot of trips."

John leaned back against the kitchen counter, curious. There were a few standard teleporters at Xavier's, but he didn't know of anyone who could create actual portals. Clarice had mentioned using her ability as a way to get everything up to the apartment quicker, but he had thought she might have telekinesis or something.

This was unexpected.

On the other side of the kitchen area, Lorna was standing next to her husband Marcos. They had brought Clarice's lamp down from their apartment on the next floor up and decided to stay to help out. They had also brought along some breakfast in case Clarice hadn't had any, plus Marcos was still finishing off his plate. Harry had texted back to let him know he would be down in a few minutes, and Shatter replied to say he would be over right after he finished walking his dog Reggie.

John had sent a text to Ororo to let her know that he and Riley were going to be late and so would Marcos and Lorna. He didn't think it would take too long, so he was pretty sure he would be there in time for his first class, but Ororo had said she would take his students if he did wind up missing it. Riley would be late for kindergarten, but her teacher wouldn't mind, not when she was helping out somebody in need.

Riley sat cross-legged on the kitchen counter beside him, her head tilted to the side. "What's a portal?"

"Well, short stuff, it's a cosmic hole that rips through space and time to let you get from point A to point B instantaneously," Lorna said, her tone playfully matter-of-fact.

John rolled his eyes at her not-so-kid-friendly explanation, and she grinned back at him. "What? It is."

Marcos looped an arm around her waist. "You do know she's five, right?"

"I'm just being honest."

Riley blinked and looked up at John, her scrunchy-faced confusion making her extra adorable. "Huh?"

John laughed and ran his hand over her braid, giving it an affectionate tug. "It's…Well, you know how Kurt can teleport? Get from one place to another like that?" He snapped his fingers.

"Yuh-huh."

"Well, it's like that but…" Okay, so he wasn't exactly sure how to explain it either.

"I can show you," Clarice said, smiling at Riley and stepping toward her. "Here, hold out your hands." Riley obliged, cupping her hands and putting them together in front of her. Her wings flexed in excited anticipation.

Clarice raised her right hand and spread her fingers wide. A hole appeared above her palm, small and bright with shimmering purples and blues.

"Ooo," Riley cooed, instantly drawn to it and Clarice. "That's so pretty."

"Ready?" Clarice asked.

Riley nodded. Another portal hole appeared, this one glowing above Riley. Reaching over, Clarice picked up a Halo tangerine that Marcos and Lorna had brought and dropped it into the portal above her hand. It tumbled through that portal and popped out above Riley, falling straight into her outstretched hands.

The five-year-old's eyes lit up as she held the tangerine out toward John. "Look, Daddy! So cool!"

"I saw," John said, impressed. He had heard that portal creation wasn't easy, mainly because, as Lorna put it, it was basically the ability to rip through time and space. He took the tangerine from his daughter and peeled it, handing half of it back to Riley and holding the other half out to Clarice. John smiled. "Very cool."

Clarice tucked a locked of her hair back behind her pointed ear before taking the tangerine slices from him. "So, yeah, I was thinking I could just create a portal here and a portal on the ground, and we could carry everything through that instead of going up and down the stairs."

"Is that what you told those asshole movers before they split?" Lorna asked, her eyes hard. John knew she wasn't mad at Clarice, quite the opposite in fact. She must have seen the movers leaving but not been able to do anything from her apartment. If she hadn't been six months pregnant, she probably would've launched herself off her balcony and confronted them.

John frowned at her over Riley's head. "Language."

"I'll donate to your Cuss Jar later," Lorna said, not looking away from Clarice.

Clarice shook her head. "No, I think they're just generally as…" John lifted his eyebrows and she frowned. "I don't think they liked that I was the one who hired them."

"They didn't like that you were a mutant, you mean."

"Maybe we could talk about this later," John said, resting his hand on the top of Riley's head.

Clarice glanced at Riley and nodded. "Great idea."

The five-year-old was watching the adults with intense focus, and this was actually a subject she could follow. Even though she was a little kid, Riley saw her unfair share of sideways looks and avoidance tactics. She just looked so different than what people considered the norm, and not everyone was willing to accept that about her. Every time some punk kid didn't want to play with her because of her purple skin and her butterfly wings or someone steered away from her, eyes averted because she might be dangerous, he wanted to confront them. Sometimes he did, but other times, he didn't because he knew it would just upset Riley more.

"I think we should start moving stuff," Marcos said, clapping his hands together and giving Lorna a long look.

She nodded, sending a small, encouraging smile Riley's way. "Yeah, sounds good."

Riley peeled off another slice of tangerine and held it out to John. "I can move little things."

He took the piece of tangerine and popped it into his mouth before swiping her off the countertop. "How little? Little like a toaster? Little like a lamp? Or little like a mouse?"

"Clarice doesn't got mice," Riley said, a bright grin popping onto her face. "And little like me!"

"Well, now, that's really little."

"Like super tiny," Marcos teased, "I don't think Clarice is going to have anything that small."

"Nuh-uh, I'm bigger now, Marcos," Riley said, making a face at him, which got a laugh from Marcos. "I'm a big little."

"You sure are," John said. He set Riley down and kept a hand on her shoulder as he looked over at Clarice. "I think we're ready to do this if you are."

"Yeah, let's go for it," Clarice said. Stepping toward the window, she looked down at the yard and then stretched her hands like she was literally tearing open a hole in the air. It appeared in front of her, a glimmering ring straight out of science fiction movie. Beyond it, the front yard and all of Clarice's things were visible. Clarice stepped out from behind the portal, and it wavered a little before stabilizing.

"I can hold it like this for a few minutes," she said, "Then I'll have to take a break." She sounded somewhat distracted, and John guessed that part of her attention was on keeping the portal open.

Riley slipped away from him and darted toward the portal. He stepped after her, but she jumped through it and then jumped back into the apartment. She laughed, a sound of pure joy and amazement, and leapt back out on the lawn again. "Clarice, I love it!"

"Looks like it," Clarice said, but she smiled as the little girl bounced into the apartment, "What are you, part rubber? You're so bouncy." She held out a hand to Riley, who took it and pulled her through the portal, out into the front yard.

"Let's go," John said, watching the two of them. Marcos lifted an eyebrow at him as Lorna headed out to the front yard, hopefully to pick up something light or use her abilities to lift instead. "What?"

"She's good with Riley," Marcos said, shrugging, a cunning smirk on his face. "Just saying."

"She's probably got a boyfriend, and besides, I'm too busy," John said. How could she not already have a boyfriend? That seemed basically impossible. "And we're not having this discussion standing in her apartment."

"Then we can go out to the lawn," Marcos said, gesturing toward the portal. "And you're not _that_ busy, John."

"Marcos…" John shook his head and shoved his friend out of the apartment, through the portal. First Riley commenting on how beautiful Clarice was, and now here was Marcos. Next was going to be Lorna trying to set him up on a date.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorta short chapter, but I wanted to write something for this fic!

With Clarice's portals, John's super strength, Lorna's magnetism, and Harry and Shatter joining in with Marcos, it only took them half an hour to get everything into the apartment. Granted, the living room was full of boxes, and Clarice still wasn't sure about how she wanted to set everything up, but at least they didn't leave anything out in the front yard.

Before the others left, Clarice unpacked her espresso machine and coffee maker and made everyone a cup of whichever they wanted thanks to the blessing of K-cups. She had to hunt for a hot chocolate one for Riley and Lorna, but she eventually found a couple at the bottom of a box.

"I'm bringing you some creamers later," Harry said, sipping at a mug of coffee, "As a house-warming gift."

"I won't turn them away," Clarice said with a smirk. John made a mental note that she liked espresso and she also maybe liked creamer in her coffee then wondered why he made the note. Because he wanted to be a good friend in the future and remember things like that. That was definitely the reason.

"I'll come by after work and help you unpack, if you want," Lorna said. She kept glaring at her coffee cup, as if her hot chocolate would suddenly turn into the caffeinated coffee that she was supposed to be staying away from. "I only work half-days now anyways."

"Yeah, sure," Clarice replied, "Where do you work that lets you do that?"

"More like makes her," Marcos said, earning him a sideways glance from his wife.

"That's because Charles is overprotective when it comes to babies," Lorna said, rolling her eyes.

"They are the future and must be well cared for," Marcos said in a rather good British accent.

John decided to interrupt before his friends could descend into arguing or flirting. "Lorna works at Xavier's, with me and Marcos," he said, looking at Clarice.

"It's my school," Riley piped up, "I go there." She had dashed off, leaving her hot chocolate beside John's coffee, so she could play with Shatter's fluffy brown dog, Reggie. Judging by the envious look in Clarice's eyes, she probably wanted to be playing with the dog, too.

"I've heard of it," Clarice said. She sipped at her coffee. "I have an interview there on Friday."

John blinked and pointedly avoided Marcos, who he could feel was staring at the side of his head, wanting to make eye contact.

"Really?" Lorna lifted an eyebrow. "Wait, are you taking the student counselor position?"

"I hope to," Clarice said.

"Well here's to you getting the job," Harry said, holding up his mug. "To new adventures."

Clarice smiled and knocked her mug gently against his. She looked at him and Shatter, who had finished his coffee and sat down on the floor with his dog and Riley. "And where do you guys work?"

"I work at one of the banks in the city," he said, "Not exactly the most exciting job, but it's got its perks."

"I'm a software engineer," Shatter said, "I work at a start-up with Sage. She lives in this building, too." He smirked. "Actually, she works part-time at Xavier's, too."

"Does Xavier own this apartment complex or something?" Clarice asked, looking amused, "Should I be concerned?"

"Yep, it's just a big conspiracy," Marcos teased.

John shook his head. "No, this complex just…" He sighed and decided to go for honesty. "The owners don't hike up the renters insurance for people with powers so a lot of us live here."

"Noticed that," Clarice said, tilting her cup toward him in acknowledgement.

"Charles gives everyone the option of living at school for free," Lorna said, "But hell if I'm going to deal with the kids twenty-four seven."

"Yeah, that doesn't sound so great," Clarice said, "Do people actually take him up on that?"

"A handful," John said, thinking of the main X-men team. They all also worked at the school, and they were all on the main team full-time. With Riley relying on him, he couldn't do that anymore, though there had been a time when he was a full-time member as well.

"Hey, Clarice, hand me your phone," Lorna said, holding out her hand, "I'll put in all of our numbers so you can text us if you need us."

Clarice glanced at the others, uncertain. "Are you sure you don't mind?"

"Go ahead," Shatter said, nodding to Lorna, "I don't mind."

Harry smiled. "Sure, no problem."

"You can add me, but if something breaks, call John," Marcos said, holding up his hands, "I can fix a few things, but he's better at it."

"He's good with his hands," Lorna put in, a definite teasing tone in her voice. Great.

It was John's turn to stare at Marcos, who was perfectly fine with fixing things around apartment complex. He helped multiple people out, and he was great when it came to fixing electrical things. "I can help," he said simply, trying to make up for his friends.

"I'll keep that in mind," Clarice said.

"You can call if you want to watch cartoons or something," Riley said, popping up from the floor. Reggie scrambled up and followed her as she darted over to Clarice and leaned against the counter she was perched on. "I like a lot of stuff! But you have to call my dad's phone."

John met Clarice's eyes and smiled. "Don't feel like you have to babysit her or anything…"

"It wouldn't be babysitting, Riley's not a baby," Clarice said, shaking her head at Riley as if to say John was being ridiculous. "It would be hanging out. Right, kid?"

"Right," Riley said, beaming.

"Besides, I'm Riley Number One babysitter, and no one's taking my job," Lorna said, getting a grin from the five-year-old.

After everyone finished their coffee, they headed out, most of them already late to work except for Shatter, who worked later hours. Clarice bent down to ruffle Reggie's ears before Shatter left, promising she could take Reggie for a walk whenever she wanted.

Soon it was just John standing in the doorway, holding Riley on his hip with one arm. "Hey, about what Marcos said…I really don't mind helping out, if you need me," he told Clarice, "Don't hesitate to call."

"We'll bring pizza! What kind of pizza do you like, Clarice?" Riley said, her wings spreading a little in excitement. "Can we bring pizza?"

"Yeah, we can," John said. That was actually a really good idea. "Do you like pizza?"

"Doesn't everyone?" Clarice said, looking a little surprised, "But you don't have to do that."

"Pizza's good for you, it's got all the food groups, Marcos said so," Riley said.

John leaned his head to the side, bumping it gently against Riley's. "She's a pizza-eating machine. And we can help you move stuff where you want it. Or I can."

"I can, too," Riley said, making a face at him.

Clarice seemed to consider it, wavering at the idea. "I don't want to bother you—"

"We get pizza, it's not bothering!" Riley said, waving her hands, "Pleeeease?"

"Really, it's not a problem," John said.

Clarice finally nodded, her hand on the doorframe. "All right…"

"Text me what kind of pizza you want," John said, heading for the stairs.

"What if I want anchovies and olives and banana peppers?" Clarice called after him.

He stopped at the top of the stairs, turning around to look at her. She was leaning against the doorframe, her thumbs hooked into her jean pockets, her eyes daring him. John smirked. "I'd have to say you have weird tastes, but I'd get it."

"Eww," Riley said, twisting around in his arms.

Clarice grinned. "I'll text you later."

John smiled back and headed down the stairs, tickling Riley. "You think that's gross, huh? What if I said pepperonis were gross?"

"No, you're gross!"

"That doesn't even make sense."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is a shortish chapter, and it takes place at Xavier's.

"We are really super huge late, right?"

"Super huge is about right," John said, smiling as Riley walked backwards in front of him, her wings pulled in tight against her back. They were two hours late, and John had missed his first training session. Ororo had texted him to tell him that it had apparently gone well but Eliza was mad at him for skipping out on her. Most likely that was because Logan had wound up taking over the session instead of Ororo, and Logan was way more intense than John was when it came to training. Most likely he had taken her to the Danger Room or had her race through the forest, which she would've hated.

"Am I going to get in trouble?" Riley asked. She tilted her head to the side and frowned. "Like a time out?"

"No, I let them know we were going to be late," John said, "And you know they wouldn't put you in time out for being late. You've been late before."

"I know, but maybe it's different this time."

"Nope."

"Good." She turned around, her sneakers rattling the gravel path. "Can we get a dog like Reggie?"

Oh, not this again. "I don't think that's a great idea," John said, "A dog is a lot of work."

"I work hard," she answered in a matter-of-fact tone, "I'm ressonsible."

"Responsible," he corrected gently, "And you are, but it's still a lot to do." And he often worked after-hours while Riley either hung out in his office or ran around with Laura and Rachel. "We're just not home enough. I don't think that'd be very fair to a dog."

Riley's lower lip popped out into a pout. "It could come here with us. It could go to school with me and I could read to it."

"Kiddo…" John reached out for her to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, knowing she was upset, but she skirted away, dodging him.

"You always say no," she said, her pout turning into a frown. "No hamster, no guinea pig, no cat. No dragon lizard. No dog."

"That's an exaggeration, and again, we're not home very much," he said, "I'm sorry, Riles."

"Are not," she said, looking down at the ground, kicking at the gravel. "You're not really sorry."

"That's not exactly fair."

"It's not fair not getting a dog."

John stopped on the path. "Riley."

She stopped too and turned slowly, her eyes guilty and angry at the same time as she looked up at him.

"I know you want a dog, and I wish we could get one," he said, "But that's not possible for us right now. And I don't really like this attitude you're showing me."

She ground her toe into the gravel, twisting her fingers together as her face flushed. "Sorry."

John half-smiled, knowing she didn't completely mean it. She just didn't like getting in trouble. Still, it was a start. He held out a hand and she tucked her hand into his as they headed up to the mansion. "Maybe you can start walking Reggie with Shatter after school."

"It's not the same," she said quietly.

He squeezed her hand. "It still might be fun."

"Mhnn..."

They walked the rest of the way in silence, John allowing Riley to finish and get over her tiny personal pity party. They were almost to the building when he noticed a small, familiar figure scaling her way down the ivy on the side of the school. Riley perked up as she followed John's line of sight.

"What's Laura doing?" she asked.

"Escaping, if I had to guess," John said, restraining himself from a long, tired sigh. Laura was eight and ferocious and hated being inside for longer than thirty minutes, tops. He supposed that she had gotten tired of sitting in class and had broken out of the window, especially because now one of the younger teachers, Austin, was leaning over the balcony, yelling at the kid.

John stepped off the path and walked toward the building, Riley pulling her hand out of his and skipping in front of him. John caught the teacher's attention by waving a hand at him.

"I've got this," he called. He got a grateful thumbs up and a slammed window from the teacher.

"Laura!" Riley yelled, "Are you escaping?"

The little brunette jumped the rest of the way, and even though he knew she was practically indestructible, John lunged forward, one hand going out even though he was too far away to catch her. Dad instinct. She dropped into a crouch before popping to her feet, a snarl on her face.

"Yes," she said shortly as Riley raced up to her. "I didn't like it."

"So you decided climbing down the building was a better idea," John said as he joined them.

"Much better," Laura growled. Her expression softened though as she looked at Riley. "Did you escape, too?"

"No, I'm late," Riley said, "We helped Clarice move into our apartment."

"Into our apartment _building_ ," John clarified, shaking his head at his daughter. "Not our apartment."

"Same thing."

"No, Riles, you can't tell people Clarice moved into our apartment." He could see it now, the rumors spreading all over campus, making it into the school's online social media gossip mill by lunchtime.

"Oh." Laura made a face and then looked at the woods. "Want to go play?"

"You both have to go to class," John said, "So let's go inside instead."

Laura scowled at him, but Riley tugged on her hand. "You can come to my class. We have circle time!"

Apparently circle time was more interesting than whatever Laura was doing in her class since she actually let Riley tug her toward the building. Laura was a more recent addition to the school, and she was still getting used to life outside of the laboratory that she had escaped from. She had shown up at the school's doorstep about a year ago, bedraggled and scruffy and looking for Logan. The grouchy Canadian had adjusted relatively quickly to the fact that he had a kid, but that he was still figuring out the parenting thing.

Hell, John had been raising Riley for five years, and he still felt like he was just wandering around in the dark and hoping he didn't totally ruin her life.

John managed to get Riley to class, and the teacher let Laura go into class as well. Before she headed into her kindergarten room, Riley hugged John and kissed his cheek. "Sorry I got a 'tude, Dad."

Somehow he managed not to laugh as he hugged her back. "We all get an attitude sometimes. We can work on keeping it in check."

She nodded before zipping into class, dragging Laura behind her. John could hear her happily saying hello to all of her friends as he walked away, ready to get to work.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This had become such a slice of life fic lol…

"So, who's this Clarice you got moved into your place?"

John nodded, his mouth a straight line of resigned frustration, as he poured himself a cup of coffee. He had known this would get around the entire school the instant that Riley had said it. "I don't…Where did you hear that from?"

Over at the breakfast nook table, Logan smirked. "My munchkin. Said your youngin mentioned something about a Clarice moving into your apartment." The near-immortal was leaned back in his chair, sitting right next to Ororo, who was grading papers. The old mansion kitchen was off-limits to most of the students and served as a staff lounge, though the kids that belonged to said staff never seemed to pay attention to that rule.

"I didn't know you were this much of a gossip, Logan," John said, reaching for the honey. He dripped a dollop into his mug and swished the coffee around.

"Can't help but hear things," Logan said with a smirk, "Kids talk, and Laura isn't keen on strangers."

"Does the whole school already know?" John asked, directing the question to Ororo.

Ororo looked up from her tablet for a moment. "Considering that Kitty and Jubilee were trying very hard to find her Facebook profile, I would say yes." She gave him a sympathetic smile. "It's a small campus."

John ground his teeth together, nodding again. Wonderful. He walked over and sat down in the chair that Logan kicked out for him, his hands wrapping around the coffee mug. "Riley just misspoke. She meant to say Clarice moved into the apartment building, not our apartment."

"I guessed that was the case," Ororo said, "You helped her this morning, right?"

"Yeah," he replied. He sipped at his coffee. "So did a bunch of other people from the building."

Logan frowned. "So this Clarice is the reason I took your training session with Eliza? That kid needs to toughen up."

"She's not used to Danger Room simulations," John said. He had talked to Eliza, who had been upset after nearly 'dying a grisly awful tragedy-worthy death' in the Danger Room, according to her. "Her power is omnilingualism, not enhanced agility or reflexes." Or anything combat related. However, she was incredible at reading anything you set in front of her or talking to anyone, no matter what language they spoke.

"All the more reason to train in the Danger Room," Logan said, "She needs the experience."

"You sound like Lorna," John said, sharing a look with Ororo. John's training style was one of the less intense styles at the school. He tried to be a calming, steady presence and have his students focus on figuring themselves out and how to use their gifts from a positive perspective. Ororo's style was more like his.

Logan and Lorna were the opposite. They both loved throwing their students in the Danger Room with the very useful advice of, "Just survive."

"Lorna's got the right idea," Logan said. He stood up from the table and grabbed the newspaper he had been idly flipping through. "Kids need to know how to defend themselves."

John decided to let the argument go, knowing that Logan was too stubborn on this particular matter to ever concede to another point of view. Besides, John did teach his students combat training, and he was confident he did a good job of it. He didn't believe in scare tactics and running a kid ragged to get the results you wanted.

Instead of getting into a fight with Logan, John put his own tablet on the table next to Ororo's and swiped it to his schedule. He had a few more individual sessions with some of the older students, a couple groups with the younger kids, a Danger Room session with Kurt and Warren, a parent-teacher conference, and then he'd get to head home and grade papers. Or wait, he had other plans.

Grabbing his phone, he started to go to messenger to send Clarice a text then remembered she had his number, not the other way around. She hadn't sent him a text yet, so he was going to have to wait. Maybe she didn't want pizza, anyways. She could've just been polite and not shot him down, though it wasn't like it was a date or anything.

With his busy schedule, the rest of the day raced by, rolling through training sessions and complaining students and helping out when two of the kids got in a fight and blew up a water fountain. Riley was already out of class and playing in his office while he waited for his conference parents to show up when his phone dinged, announcing a new message.

_Unknown Number: Hey, this is your weird new neighbor. I'm a pepperoni and mushroom kind of person. I know you're disappointed that I'm not more interesting._

John smiled and pulled up his and Riley's favorite local pizza place to put in the order. He could stop by and pick it up on the way back to the apartment building.

_John: So much for anchovies. What do you want to drink?_

_Clarice: Mountain Dew or Coke, I'm not picky. I'll pay you back, btw._

_John: Don't worry about it. I've got it._

_Clarice: No way. Sorry, but you're totally getting paid back. Do you and Riley like cake?_

John lifted an eyebrow. Of course, who didn't like cake. Riley was a fiend when it came to cake. When she turned one, Jubilee had given her a smash cake and there had been no turning back since that mess.

_John: Yeah._

_Clarice: Then you're getting a payback cake._

_John: That sounds threatening._

_Clarice: Does it? You're getting a heaping helping of some intimidating gratitude._

_John: This is a very aggressive thank you._

_Clarice: I'm very forceful with my thanks. ;) Deal with it._

John cupped his hand over his mouth to hide his grin, but Riley perked up and looked at him anyways. John automatically set his phone down and pretended to be engrossed in tablet, pulling up his email and then the weather app and a news app and so forth.

"What?" she asked, putting down the bright pink toy cat she had been marching around the desk.

"Nothing."

Riley scrambled to her feet and reached for his phone, but he picked it up.

John held up a hand and put the phone out of her reach. "Hey, no grabbing."

"Who're you texting?" she asked, "I wanna know."

"Clarice," he said, "We were just talking about what kind of pizza we'll eat at her place tonight. I got you one of those little cheese ones."

Riley blinked at him. "But I'm going to Lorna and Marcos'."

It was John's turn to blink. "What do you mean?"

"Lorna and Marcos said I could come over and help paint the baby's room," Riley said, her bright wings drooping, "I forgot about pizza…"

John reached out and picked her up so he could set her on the desk, eye level with him. "I don't remember either of them saying they were painting tonight."

"They picked a color," Riley said, twisting her fingers together, "They picked yellow." Her lower lip poked out. "Is Clarice gonna be mad if I don't eat pizza? Marcos said I could paint."

Riley had been talking about painting the baby's room ever since Lorna and Marcos had mentioned decorating a room for their new little one. She wasn't as enthusiastic about the actual baby, but everything that happened because of the baby seemed to capture her attention, like decorating, Lorna's new clothes, and the baby-proofing. She was fascinated by all the safety measures that Marcos was taking, and she had gone through a short phase where she had tried to babyproof their own apartment, at least until she figured out that their apartment already had a few kid-proof precautions in place and she got all indignant. John had nearly had a panic attack when he found her trying to pry off the electric outlet caps with a fork because she 'wasn't a baby anymore.'

"No, she won't be mad," John said, shaking his head. "I'll tell her you've been looking forward to painting, which I know you have."

"I have to wear play clothes," Riley said with a little nod, "Marcos said so, cause I'll get real messy. Lorna said I could wear whatever."

"She would," John said. Soon she would be changing her tune, once she had her own kid and she was the one having to buy new clothes. Riley's clothes were complicated since they had to be altered to fit her wings. Most of the time he mended them himself or just got stretchy, loose shirts that could fit over her wings if he was careful. Jubilee was good at finding clothes for Riley, and sometimes she would take Riley out shopping, just the two of them.

"I wanna paint my room," Riley said with a mischievous grin.

John smirked and leaned back in his chair, tilting his head to the side as he considered his daughter. "You did that once, back when you were three."

"Real paint," she said, "That wasn't real."

"Oh, but I had to really paint to cover it up," he said, shaking his head.

He could still see that scene, little three-year-old Riley all covered in tempura paint, the walls of her bedroom smeared with every finger paint she owned. She had looked up at him with that huge innocent smile of hers and declared her room, 'So pretty, Daddy.' There were still pink and green stains on the carpet that had never come up, no matter how many times he tried to clean it.

John picked up his phone, deciding to text Clarice and let her know that Riley wasn't going to be there. He didn't want her to be surprised when he showed up without her or think that he was trying to manipulate her into a date.

_John: Hey, wanted to let you know, Marcos and Lorna are borrowing Riley for the evening, so she's not going to be there. Want me to ask some other people to come? It might be a lot of pizza for the two of us._

He set his phone to the side after rewriting the message three times. It didn't sound rude, did it, to offer to ask other people to come? Or like he didn't want to be alone with her? What the hell was wrong with him, he was overthinking this so much.

Riley reached out and poked his forehead with her thumb. "You've got a frown."

John nodded. "A small one."

"Nuh-uh, it's extra large. I've got small frowns. You've got big ones."

"Yeah? That right?"

"Yep."

His phone dinged with a new message from Clarice.

_Clarice: What, are they using her for future-kid practice? And I can eat a lot of pizza. Can't you?_

_John: Are you challenging me or something?_

_Clarice: Maybe. Let's see how many pizzas you bring then we can decide if it's a challenge or not._

Riley peeked over at the phone, her hands resting on John's arm. "I wanna see."

"You can't read much of it yet," John said, but he turned the phone so she could see the messages.

"I can read 'maybe.' And 'we can.'"

"That's good, pumpkin," John said, reaching over to brush his hand down her hair affectionately, a bit of pride welling up in him. Riley could read some books for kindergartners, and he was extremely happy about that. Every time she finished a book and could read it to him all the way through, he bought her a new one. He hoped that she would wind up loving to read, and he didn't mind if he had to turn their apartment into a library to make it happen. He had read somewhere that kids with books in the home were more likely to turn into lifelong readers, so yeah, they had at least four bookshelves already and he made sure that Riley saw him reading for the fun of it.

"Can you snap Clarice me saying hi?" Riley said, her dark eyes hopeful. "And sorry 'cause I can't eat pizza?"

"I don't know if she has Snapchat," John said, "How about I just text her?" Most of his own snaps were Riley goofing off with his phone and using filters, anyways.

"Okay…"

_John: Riley wants me to tell you she's sorry she can't make it and that she says hi._

_Clarice: Tell her I said it's okay, we'll just have to have pizza some other time. And tell her I said hey too._

"See, I told you she wouldn't be mad," John said once he relayed Clarice's message.

The door to his office swung open, and Marcos strode in, not bothering to knock. He had the office across from John and he often acted as if he and John simply shared office space.

"I've come for my apprentice," he said, reaching over the desk and picking up Riley. "We're off to be 21st century Michelangelos."

"Booyakasha!" Riley said.

"Different Michelangelo," Marcos said with laugh, "Less turtle, more Renaissance. And in this house, we use the 'cowabunga' catchphrase."

"Cowabunga?"

"Much better."

"You didn't even ask if I'd let her go," John said, more amused than exasperated.

Marcos lifted an eyebrow and shared a look with Riley before both of them looked back at John.

"John, can Lorna and I borrow your kid and let her paint on some walls for her cousin?" Marcos said, "I'll get the booster seat from your Jeep and everything."

"Pleeease?" Riley said, clasping her hands and closing her eyes tight, exaggerating as she begged.

"I guess…"

Riley whooped and Marcos grinned. John held up his hands. "Try to keep the paint off her wings. And out of her hair, okay?" The thin fuzz on her wings would make getting paint off of them a serious pain and most likely just lead to him waiting until it wore off to spare her the pain of scrubbing her wings clean.

"Got it," Marcos said. He set Riley on the ground and she dashed over to John. John swept her up into a hug and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Behave and have fun," he said firmly, "Love you, squirt."

"Love you, too," Riley said, "I'll be good."

Marcos and Riley headed out, Riley babbling about the painting project and Marcos talking about what they were going to have for dinner. John vaguely wondered if Marcos and Lorna had somehow figured out that he was planning to go over to Clarice's after work, but how would they have? Unless Riley told them. Oh.

_Oh._

Well now it made a little more sense. They must have talked up the whole painting thing until Riley forgot about the pizza in her excitement. Right. Impressive.


End file.
